


i'll come calling after you

by Tschulifee



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Fluff, M/M, lots of cute pet names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 06:35:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9166453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tschulifee/pseuds/Tschulifee
Summary: Tyler is anxious. Being little helps. And Josh. Josh helps.title is from James Vincent McMorrow's song "Early in the morning, I'll come calling"





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Grace and the rest of the Dun Cum Squad.  
> thank you for making me laugh every day. ily.

“Tyler?! Have you guys seen Tyler anywhere? No? Tyler!! Where the frick are you?”

 Josh had been looking for Tyler in the backstage area for almost half an hour now. Tyler was still nowhere to be found. He had been very quiet during the ride to the venue. Lost in his own thoughts, the skin around his eyes creased in worry. Josh was pretty sure he knew what was troubling him. They wanted to perform one of their new songs for the first time that night - and, as always, Tyler was probably thinking about all the things that could go wrong. Messing up the lyrics, disappointing the fans, the crowd hating the song.  
Josh was nervous, too, but at a time like this Tyler was anxious enough for the both of them, so he tried to conceal it and pretend he was strong and confident.

When they arrived at the venue, Tyler had quickly jumped off the bus and rushed through the backstage door. Josh had seen him enter one of the dressing rooms and decided to give him a bit of space and time to himself. When Josh went into the room quite a while later, however, it was empty. A quick call and the following vibration sound coming from the sofa cushions told him that Tyler didn’t take his phone with him.  
  
Which led to him searching the other dressing rooms, the busses, even the whole parking lot, and now speed-walking through the backstage area, calling out the singer’s name more frantically, checking all the rooms again.

“Tyleee-” Josh’s next shout was cut off by Mark clasping his arm and whirling him around to face him.

“Hey dude. Hey, calm down. Tyler’s fine. I just saw him.”

A shaky breath left his lips and his shoulders sacked which had until now been held up by the tension that had taken hold of his whole body without him noticing.  
  
“Where is he?”

“He wanted me to play Hide and Seek with him and then headed to the stage, so I guess you’ll find him there.”

“So he’s -”

“Little, yeah.”

Josh sighed. “Should have expected that, to be honest. Thanks, Mark! I gotta go.” And with a small smile he turned around and walked to one of the stage doors.

 

When he stepped onto the stage he spotted Tyler immediately but pretended he hadn’t already seen him and looked over to the ranks of the venue.  
“Tyler?” Josh called out, “Tyler, are you in here somewhere?”  
He heard a small giggle from the other side of the stage and made his way slowly towards it’s source.  
  
“Tyyyyyler??!! I’ve been looking for you for so long! You are really really good at Hide and Seek, you know?”  
Another giggle, stifled as if Tyler was pressing a hand against his mouth.

“Hm… maybe you are not on my eye level. Maybe you are hiding underneath something!?”

Slowly, he lowered himself to the ground until his knees hit the stage. The piano was just a few steps away and from his position he could see Tyler sitting underneath it perfectly. Legs drawn up to his chest, arms wrapped around them, chin resting on his knees. When their eyes met Tyler gasped and released his legs from the strong grip of his arms, so they stretched out in front of him.  
  
“Joshiiie!! You found me!” His grin was showing off all of his wonderfully crooked teeth and Josh couldn’t help but return it with an equally large smile.

“Yes I did, Ty!! But I needed a loooong time.”

“Ha. That’s because I’m a good hider!” Tyler’s eyes were glimmering with pride and giddiness.

“The best,” Josh replied and got off from his spot on the floor to walk over to the piano and sit down in front of his bandmate.

 

“Hi.”, he breathed.  
  
“Hi yourself!” Tyler moved to tuck his bare feet under Josh’s crossed legs. “My toes are cold!”

“You’re right,” Josh gasped, “They are freezing! Where did you leave your socks and shoes, baby boy?”  
  
“Dunno..” The singer mumbled.  
  
“That’s okay. We’ll look for them later! Now… we still got a few hours until the show starts and you have to be big again. What do you want to do?”

 

Tyler was furrowing his brows and biting on his lower lip. Obviously being reminded of the concert was distressing him. Josh reached out and combed his fingers through Tyler’s hair, slightly tugging on the strands at the nape of his neck, until the worry lines disappeared and the singer’s eyes lit up.  
“I have an idea, Joshie! You can play piano and I listen!”  
  
He softly pinched Tyler’s cheek. “But darling, you are the one with the mad piano skills. I’m only good on the drums.”  
  
“Ha, you’re silly, Joshie-Josh! I can’t play piano. I’m little!! But you are big! So you can play it!”  
  
The drummer sighed. “Alright, Mr. Infallible Logic. I’m gonna play for you. But don’t get mad when I mess up!”

 

He got up from the floor and sat down on the piano stool. Tyler looked up at him, pouting, and making grabby hands.  
“You wanna sit on my lap while I play?” An excited nod. “Okay, come on up then, little monkey!”  
Tyler crawled out from underneath the piano, stood up and plopped down onto his lap.  
  
“There we go. You need to make yourself a bit smaller though, baby boy, or I can’t see the keys.”  
  
The other boy didn’t reply but wrapped both of his arms around Josh’s torso and tucked his face into the crook of his neck.  
When Josh was sure that Tyler was clinging onto him tight enough, he released his hold on the singer and let his fingers hover over the piano keys.

 

A few seconds later the sound of a slowed-down, bumpy rendition of Für Elise filled the air. It was one of the few songs he kind of knew how to play. He grimaced whenever he messed up a note but he knew Tyler didn’t care, was in fact comforted by the familiar sound of his piano. When he finished the song, he looked down and saw that Tyler had brought up one of his hands to his face and was sucking on his thumb, eyes closed, face relaxed.

Josh traced his knuckles down his cheek and Tyler let out a content sigh, slowly opening his eyes.  
“You liked that, baby boy?”  
  
Tyler pulled his thumb out of his mouth to reply. “Mhm, ‘t was nice! I knowed you are a good piano player!”  
  
“Yeah, you knew that, Ty,” Josh whispered, “Wanna get a piggyback ride back to our dressing room?”  
  
Tyler’s face lit up, eyes sparkling, “Yayyyy! Thank you thank you thank you!” and he got off the drummer’s lap, raced behind him and jumped on his back.  
  
“Oof, a little warning would be nice next time, okay Mister?”  
  
“ ‘m not a Mister!” Tyler giggled.  
  
“You’re right, my mistake. You’re a little monkey - clinging on to me like that.”

 

Josh wrapped his arms around Tyler’s legs and slowly stood up.  
“But Joshiiiie, monkeys eat bananas and bananas are yucky!” Tyler swayed his feet back and forth while Josh was walking them across the stage to the backstage entrance.  
  
“Well then maybe you are a very special monkey who has seen the light and realised that tacos are wayyyy better than bananas,” he pushed the door open and ducked down a bit, so Tyler wouldn’t bump his head on the doorway.  
  
“Yep!” Tyler popped the p, “ ‘m a smart monkey!”  
  
“The smartest, “ Josh replied and stepped into their dressing room, once again with bent knees.

  
  
“And here we are. What do you wanna do, now?”  
  
“Snuggles!” Tyler exclaimed excitedly. “Lotsa snuggles!”  
  
Josh laughed and walked them over to the couch where he let Tyler plop down onto the cushions. The singer immediately proceeded to lay down on his side in a fetal position. “I wanna be the lil’ spoon, please.”  
  
Josh chuckled, “As you wish, baby boy.”

He squeezed himself between Tyler and the back of the sofa and wrapped his arms around the boy in front of him. “Oh! We still need to find your shoes and socks, you silly bean! But first we can take a nap and then it’s time to be big again, okay?”  
  
“Hm, okayyy.” Tyler sighed.  
  
Josh smiled and pressed a soft kiss on Tyler’s neck, “I love you, my special, precious taco-eating monkey!”  
  
Tyler giggled. “I love you, too, Joshie-Josh!”

**Author's Note:**

> for the record: it physically pains me to write banana hate and i WILL fight Tyler and Josh if i ever meet them. bananas are good and do not deserve to be treated like this.


End file.
